Tag: cholera outbreak

Suspected cholera cases have jumped in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram violence has forced tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in crowded camps, the Norwegian Refugee Council said Monday.

The humanitarian group said 10,000 people have been affected by the fast-spreading cholera outbreak and 175 people have died in the northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as of early November 2018.

“One of the major causes of the outbreak is the congestion in the camps that makes it difficult to provide adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services,” said Janet Cherono, the NRC’s programme manager in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.

“The rainy season has also worsened the conditions. If more land is not urgently provided for camp decongestion and construction of health and sanitation facilities, Nigeria is steering towards yet another cholera outbreak in 2019.”

Nigeria has seen regular cholera outbreaks since Boko Haram took up arms against the government in 2009.

More than 1.8 million people have been displaced by the bloody conflict, which has claimed more than 27,000 lives and shattered daily life in the Lake Chad region.

Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, is housing 243,000 displaced people in crowded camps with poor hygiene facilities, creating a fertile environment for cholera to spread, the NRC said.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, suffers from a high-rate of water-borne diseases as a result of dilapidated infrastructure and under-investment.

On Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari declared a “state of emergency” in the country’s water sanitation sector, describing the statistics on open defecation and access to piped water as “disturbing”.

Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC party on Friday called off plans to hold a mock inauguration to name its leader Nelson Chamisa as the country’s president after public gatherings were banned due to a cholera outbreak.

The MDC had planned the event to highlight its claims that the July 30 election was rigged and that Chamisa was the rightful president, rather than President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling ZANU-PF.

The MDC accused the government of using the cholera outbreak, which has claimed 25 lives, to stop the mock inauguration at the party’s 19th anniversary celebrations in Harare on Saturday.

Authorities have banned public gatherings in the city as a health measure.

“The Movement for Democratic Change has postponed its 19th anniversary celebrations,” party spokesman Jacob Mafume said in a statement.

“It is clear that the government is abusing the cholera epidemic for political purposes and puts into serious doubt that the ban of our commemoration event was out of genuine concern.”

The cholera outbreak, first detected in the township of Glen View outside Harare earlier this month, prompted the health ministry to declare an emergency in the city after at least 3,000 cases were reported.

The disease has since spread to other towns as well as rural areas across the country as the cash-strapped government.

But civil society groups blamed the death toll on “official and criminal negligence.”

“It is alarming for such a medieval and preventable disease to continue to claim valuable lives,” said an alliance of local civil society organisations.

The Zimbabwe Red Cross has deployed 1,000 volunteers to affected suburbs in the capital as it characterised the situation as “incredibly complex.”

“Most of the areas affected have been dealing with an outbreak of typhoid so this is a double punch for them and it shows the weakness of the water systems,” Red Cross secretary general Maxwell Phiri said.

Cholera outbreaks have occurred regularly in Zimbabwe’s cities as authorities struggle to provide potable water and sanitation facilities.

Zimbabwe, which was ruled by Robert Mugabe from independence in 1980 until his ousting last year, suffered its worst cholera outbreak in 2008.

A total of 4,000 people died and at least 100,000 people fell ill.

Mnangagwa has pledged to tackle the current outbreak.

A World Health Organization situation report revealed that first-line antibiotics were struggling to treat the disease, which has spread to five of the country’s 10 provinces.

Zimbabwe’s largest university postponed its graduation ceremony on Friday.

Zimbabwean police have banned public gatherings in the capital Harare following a cholera outbreak that has killed 21 people and left more than 3,000 people hospitalised.

This comes after government on Tuesday declared the outbreak a state of emergency.
Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said Wednesday cholera had become a threat to human security and the ban would assist in curbing the spread of the disease.

Isolated cases of the diarrheal disease have been reported in some parts of the country as Harare remains the epicenter of the latest outbreak which began early this month.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police wishes to inform members of the public that in light of the declaration of the state of emergency, the police in Harare will not allow any public gatherings,” Charamba said.

The outbreak in Harare’s high density suburbs of Glenview and Budiriro was sparked by burst sewer pipes which contaminated water from community boreholes and open wells used by residents who rely on such water due to shortage of potable water from the city council.

Health authorities have since banned the selling of meat and fish by vendors and have also suspended classes at a primary school in the affected area.

Zimbabwe’s last major cholera outbreak in 2008 killed more than 4,000 people.

Harare city council has been struggling to provide sufficient and clean water to the residents over the past decade due to insufficient capacity and shortage of foreign currency to purchase water treatment chemicals.

The Borno State Government on Wednesday declared an outbreak of cholera in the state.

The State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Haruna Mshelia, said that the eight samples sent for laboratory test proved positive and as such, there was a cholera outbreak in the state.

He said that although 14 persons had reportedly died in areas where acute diarrhoea was diagnosed, but he could not confirm if it was due to cholera as no autopsy have been carried out.

He said, “With the laboratory confirmation of samples of eight suspected cholera cases sent to the NCDC laboratory in Abuja, the Borno State Ministry of Health officially declares an outbreak.

“This official declaration has become important to the enable state, partners, and NGOs to mobilise adequate resources for a timely and comprehensive response to the outbreak which presently concentrates in Madinatu and El-Miskin IDPs camps and Bolori ward in Maiduguri and suburbs.”

He said the suspected cases had also been reported from Kaga with 28 cases, Konduga with 36 cases, Magumeri with 139 cases, Old Maiduguri with 67 cases and Chibok with 78 cases, among others.

Mshelia also said the state government had activated the full-scale emergency operations response for a concerted response to an outbreak of this nature.

He said, “As of today, 5th September 2018, 380 cases of suspected cholera have been reported with 14 deaths as over 250 cases have been treated and discharged.”

He noted that the local government areas affected by acute water diarrhoea had increased from 10 to 13.

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Kano State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kabiru Gesto, on Tuesday confirmed that the state has so far recorded 28 deaths between January and July this year.

Gesto noted that 400 cases of acute watery diarrhoea had been recorded, while 50 cases of cholera across 33 local government areas of the state were also confirmed.

Briefing newsmen in Kano yesterday on the flag-off of the first round of 2018 Maternal New Born and Child Health Week, the commissioner said the state government, through the ministry, had instituted several control measures to combat the outbreak, currently ravaging 17 states of the federation.

“As you might be aware, the country is currently experiencing increased incidence of acute watery diarrhea and an ongoing cholera outbreak in 17 states.

“The sum of N32 Million has been provided to tackle the outbreak, just as a Rapid Respond Team has been set up, as well as mounting of continuous surveillance for all epidemic prone diseases.”

According to Getso, it depends, not only on government but also on other key stakeholders, such as the civil society organizations, media, community-based organizations, families and individuals, assuring that the situation was highly under control.

Furthermore, the commissioner advised the general public to adopt safety measures, such as drinking safe and clean water by using chlorine to treat the water, avoiding open defecation, ensuring regular washing of hands, with soap on a regular basis, as well as ensuring that suspected cases are reported to a nearby health facility.

In the same vein, the state government has earmarked N98 million for the provision of essential drugs for MNCH week, in which such services would be provided free of charge for the benefit of women and children in the state.

He said the state government was targeting 2.7 million under-five children, as well as 500, 000 pregnant women for immunisation.

Similarly, he emphasised that, as part of the state government’s commitment to ensuring good health delivery system in the state, over N4 billion worth of drugs and medical consumables had been provided by the Ganduje-led administration, adding that arrangements had been concluded to engage the services of 150 nurses to address the shortage of manpower in some of the state hospitals.

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Barely one week after 11 persons reportedly died of a suspected cholera outbreak in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State, a similar outbreak has been recorded in Gwarzo Local Government Area of the state, which had claimed about eight lives, with 20 others hospitalised.

According to an eyewitness, Ibrahim Sale, six deaths were recorded in about four villages.

When contacted, the Chairman of Gwarzo Local Government Area, Bashir Kutama, and the District Head of Gwarzo, Alhaji Shehu Bayero, confirmed the suspected cholera outbreak, saying that eight persons have died of the disease, while the council had procured some drugs to support the patients.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabiru Getso, and the spokesman of the ministry, Ismaila Gwammaja, on the telephone were unsuccessful, as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, the ministry had earlier denied the suspected outbreak of cholera in Bebeji, insisting that the incident was caused by diarrhoea.

In another development, students at the Bayero University Kano staged a peaceful protest on Saturday, demanding that the school authorities should beef up security on campus, especially at the female hostels, following incessant assailants’ attacks within the premises.

This came hours after a female student was robbed, stabbed and left unconscious at about 3am on Saturday.

In his reaction, the university’s Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Shamsudeen Umar, said the victim was responding to treatment, as the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Muhammad Bello has directed that adequate attention be given to her.

He said that the VC also directed that the perimeter fence of the female hostels should be fortified, and the premises illuminated, so as to enhance security.

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The Kano State Government has dispatched a team of health personnel to Bebeji Local Government Area of the state where an outbreak of suspected cholera was reported in three villages.

A resident of the area, Malam Aminu Musa had told the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano that no fewer than 11 persons lost their lives and 45 others hospitalised at Hayin Madaci, Kuki and Falli Sarki villages.

Musa said the suspected cholera cases began a week ago, adding that most of those who died were children.

“The victims were alleged to have been drinking contaminated water due to the commencement of rainy season,’’ he said.

Abubakar called on his colleagues to give the matter accelerated deliberation to prevent further loss of lives.

“We have put some temporary measures since the outbreak of the disease last week Friday and some of the victims of cholera have started responding to treatment.

“The matter has been temporarily brought under control as the local government health department deployed its personnel to the affected areas in the local government.

“The areas affected by the cholera outbreak included some parts of the Funtua town, Dikke, Goya and Maska villages,” the lawmaker said.

Abubakar also called on the state Health Management Agency to quickly deploy its experts to the area to checkmate the spread of the disease to other parts of the state.

The Speaker of state House of Assembly, Alhaji Abubakar Kusada, directed the House Committee on Health Matters to investigate the development and report back to the house within one week for action.

Kusada, who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Alhaji Shehu Tafoki, said that the legislature wants more detail of areas affected in order to take decisive action on the matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the outbreak of cholera had become an annual event in the state as residents in rural areas source water from streams, rivers and dams, especially during rainy seasons.

There has been an outbreak of cholera in Katsina State with 11 deaths already recorded.

It was learnt that officials of the state Ministry of Health and Primary Health Care Agency were, however, making efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

Investigation revealed that the deaths were recorded outside the state capital, specifically in Funtua where five persons died, and in Kusada where six patients also lost their lives.

Findings indicate that the outbreak was recorded in six local government areas of the state namely Funtua (40 cases), Kusada(83), Kaita(three cases), Ingawa(four cases), Kankia(one) and Katsina(one case).

It was further learnt that following the development, the health officials mobilised to all the 34 local government areas of the state to treat the victims and educate residents on how to avert the disease.

Information on the disease is also being shared among the officials about further steps to be taken to sensitise people about the disease.

None of the officials was ready to comment on the development even though they readily assisted with the information concerning the outbreak.

A top official who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “As at 29th and 30th of June,2018, the casualty figure from cholera stood at 11 from 132 cases recorded in six LGAs of the state. We are already fully on the ground to curb the spread of the disease.”

The state Health Commissioner, Hajiya Mariatu Bala-Usman, could not be reached for comment as of the time of filing this report.

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